Jasmine Alkhaldi ready for bigger things after horror of last year's SEA Games

Deprived of the gold in the SEA Games, Jasmine Alkhaldi now turns focus to Asian Games and Olympic qualifying. Jerome Ascano

INCHEON, South Korea — Jasmine Alkhaldi is focused on bigger things — the Asian Games competition and qualification for the world championships — and has already moved on from the horror of the Southeast Asian Games last year.

But the 21-year-old said she has put the incident behind her long ago.

“Yes!,” said Alkhaldi resoundingly when asked if she has already moved on from the incident. “I forgot about it already.”

Alkhaldi, entered in the 50m and 100m freestyle in Incheon, said she is aiming to hit qualifying times for next year’s Fina World Championship in Kazan, Russia after her rigid training in Hawaii.

Alkhaldi’s coach Jennifer Buffon said a break in training last summer is what making her confident about the chances of his ward in making it to the world championship.

“I think she is consistently training really hard but she was able to take a break this summer which she definitely needed. She has been training four years straight for all her competition. She was able to take a break this summer and come back, she is in a good place mentally,” said Buffon.

“Definitely our goal is to make those qualifying times for Russia and this Asian Games is the first step in our training for 2015,” said Buffon.